OBITUARY

Sister Jean Ford, R.S.C.J.

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ALBANY, N.Y. – Religious of the Sacred Heart Sister Jean Marie Ford, 85, a former educator and administrator, died March 16.

Born in Boston, Sister Ford was the daughter of the late John J. Ford and Mary C. Hageman Ford, Her sister, Evelyn Ford (Alexander) O’Connor also preceded her in death. She entered the Society of the Sacred Heart at Kenwood Convent in Albany, professed her first vows in 1951 and made her final profession in Rome, July 30, 1956.

She was a graduate of Newton Academy, Newton, Mass, and received Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, in New York City. She also completed a Master of Arts degree in theology at Providence College.

Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, Sister Ford’s ministry was teaching in Sacred Heart schools: Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, Newton, Mass.; Eden Hall Academy of the Sacred Heart, Philadelphia; the former Elmhurst Academy of the Sacred Heart, Portsmouth; and Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, Bethesda, Md. She served as superior at Newton Academy from 1966 to 1970, when she became director of formation for the Society of the Sacred Heart, Washington Province.

In 1972, she was named provincial of the Washington Province, and served a six-year term. When the United States Province of the Society of the Sacred Heart was established in 1982, Sister Ford served on the first provincial leadership council, 1982-88. She was a member of the general leadership council of the international Society of the Sacred Heart, serving in Rome, 1988 to 1994. Sister Ford then moved to Sprout Creek Farm, an educational ministry of the Society of the Sacred Heart in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. She remained there until she entered prayer ministry in Albany in 2009.

In addition to her leadership roles within the Society of the Sacred Heart, Sister Ford served on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Sister Ford is survived by a sister, Eunice Ford Williams, and three nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated March 26 in the Teresian House Chapel, Albany. Burial was in Kenwood Cemetery, Albany.